Amanda Kloots Says Husband Nick Cordero Will 'Most Likely' Require a Double-Lung Transplant

Jessica Castillo
·5 min read

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Fitness professional Amanda Kloots has been dutifully providing her Instagram followers with updates on husband Nick Cordero‘s health as he continues to deal with complications of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Now, she’s opening up to Gayle King about what lies ahead for Cordero, a Broadway star whose leg was amputated during his time in intensive care.

In a new interview that aired on CBS This Morning, Kloots told King that the “ultimate goal” for caring for Cordero’s health involves a double-lung transplant. “That is most likely the possibility,” she said, adding that there is “a 99 percent chance that he would be needing that in order to live the kind of life that I know my husband would want to live.” But she knows such a procedure “is a long road away and a lot of things would have to line up in order for Nick to be a candidate.”

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Kloots added that the process has been extremely trying, and that a number of health professionals had warned her to prepare for the worst. “They told me four times that he won’t survive — sometimes, even [that] he won’t survive through the night, but he has,” she said. “He’s fighting. I see it every day. Nick’s doctor sees it. And as long as he’s in there and fighting, I’ll continue to fight with him.”

One of the major things keeping the personal trainer going is faith, which she previously opened up about in June. “I’ve been told to say goodbye,” she wrote in the caption of a photo featuring Cordero with the couple’s baby son, Elvis. “I’ve been told it would take a miracle. Well, I have faith.”

Cordero has been in the hospital for 91 days now, per an update Kloots gave yesterday on her Instagram. In another post, she told followers that the actor “is profoundly weak” after rounds of complications that required intubation and a coma. “Imagine how you feel getting the flu and how it can take your body a full week to recover,” she urged followers. “Now imagine how Nick’s body feels, all that he has gone through and how long it will take him to recover. This will take time, a long time.”

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Nick update day 85. ⠀ Nick is profoundly weak. Imagine how you feel getting the flu and how it can take your body a full week to recover. Now imagine how Nicks body feels, all that he has gone through and how long it will take him to recover. This will take time, a long time. ⠀ He interacts with his eyes, answering questions by looking up for yes and down for no. When he is alert he can also move his jaw. I have been doing passive physical therapy on him to help in any way I can to get him stronger, to keep his joints moving and engage his muscles. He cannot move his body yet. He has had some minor blood infections that are causing little blood pressure issues although those are under control. His vent settings are getting better and his numbers are trending in a better direction. He is relatively stable. ⠀ Is this defeating? Sometimes it is, I won’t lie. I wish I would walk into his room and he was able to give me a big smile and hold my hand. But instead of feeling defeated, I turn to feeling determined! I give him any and all energy I can. I tell him goals that the doctors would like to see. I insist that he CAN do this! People may look at me like I’m crazy. They may think that I don’t fully understand his condition because I’m smiling and singing in his room everyday. I’m just not going to mope around and feel sad for myself or him. That is not what Nick would want me to do. That is not my personality. I fight and I will continue to fight for Nick every single day. With God on our side anything can happen! 🤍 ⠀

A post shared by AK! ⭐️ (@amandakloots) on Jun 25, 2020 at 10:03am PDT

While Kloots says that the struggles can “sometimes” feel “defeating,” she holds onto the wins, both small and significant alike. Right now, that’s finding joy in his currently-stable condition.”He can still open his eyes, and when he is alert and awake, he’ll answer commands by looking up or down, yes or no questions,” she told King during their conversation. “When I’m asking him, he will even try to smile or move his jaw. The nurses have all said that he answers my questions the best.”

And though Kloots says she wishes she could “jump in his bed and hug him and grab him and squeeze him,” it’s not yet safe for them to do so. “So I grab his hand,” she said, “and I’m waiting for the day that he holds my hand back.”

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